Where people talk, but don't really learn. Where the label on the category door is more important than the stuff and stuffed inside. Where the meaning and the context of a good word is lost in your particular labelling. If you are "lucky" you may just shut the door on further discussion.Not good science ,but common wannabe, media, education and "leadership "practice in Australia.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Farmer

A Farmer in Australia is one who grows food for a living. ( more assumptions at end )Abuse of a tiny minority ?
While they represent only approx 1% of the population, they get mentioned a lot in political discourse . Because they are widely criticized for their treatment of animals, native plants and water in particular , it is very serious when this tiny hard working group are misrepresented , When innuendo , slur and snide dominate in the programming, it can expected to provide inadequate representation of this very small group The depression and suicide rate amongst them is high at least partly because people speak for them , without really knowing their needs, desires and care for their many animals.
While they would refuse to use the term "disadvantaged "they often pay themselves a very low rate per hour for working through the night on obstetrics duty . They are some of very few people in our community who don't get a reasonable reward for their work ( the main form of cruelty we see out here ) Their financial and relaxation rewards are so low that they often find it difficult to find a wife. . They often go unnoticed because they are too busy for emails and FaceBook.
Do you ever misrepresent them, or use that word "farmer" for yourself when it suits you ?

How about our media ? Do they get careless and admit it ?They outta because if they do in election time the error can become the lie .Farmers deserve better from ABCTV -----------esp at election timeMisrepresenting a profession is a very serious matter at election time. We treat the qualifications for office as as critical as we do in any job interview. .

To describe yourself as a farmer when its only a hobby is a very serious misrepresentation 1, ABC 's Lateline Emma Alberici gave a glowing 13min tribute to Greens leader Richard Di Natalie describing him as a farmer ,

The leader of the Greens would clearly not be accepted to that profession as he does NOT demonstrate anything like a good understanding of how to do that job well .
--To treat the qualification :"farmer "with any less care than we treat "doctor" is to show contempt for the former.

--We know why advocates use the term (for spin ), because they have done it before

-- no excuses are acceptable for experienced journalists in our public broadcaster..

2, ABC ;s Q and A regional program in regional Tamworth did not identify one farmer who asked questions or made points. , The ABC's choice of people all mentioned agricultural production creating totally unacceptable confusion, doubt and innuendo about who the producers choice might be representing. This should not happen !
Harsh criticism of government by hobby farmers is not unexpected as many of them move to areas which will aways have less service provision,

The thinking audience might well assume the ABC couldn't find a farmer critical of the NBN service. ( see also below ) The unthinking audience may well assume that they heard from farmers when they didn't.

SBS (as seen in a program like Insights ) have a much much better ways of introducing the character and qualification of the audience to speak .

This bad practice at ABCTV has been evident for years . Its time our broadcaster /commentators fessed up or got Some new young team out ! ) ,and did the intros properly

Lot of respect missing in the hype and cynical selection of guests and audience going on in this election.
How serious is this careless labelling or candidates in elections ?One only has to think what it does to farmers sense of self worth and identity when media do it OUTSIDE election time . Neither time is acceptable for our own ABC .

Even #774melbourne have yet to appear in the farmers end of the marginal Corangamite electorate. Key question .Q1 "Is there a risk of a farmer killing a planner in this area ?"

REFERENCE - for those who have yet to recognise the professionAustralian Farmers and Modern Farming
To feed Australians and others, farmers use high technology , large areas and or largish numbers of animals .They don't generally use large amounts of non natural resources being located in areas where their capability for extensive use is high .

The mild climate limits the need for animal housing with most dairy cows eating and resting in paddocks, Significant quantities of imported rock undergird the now high productivity of Australian cool climate soils. Leasing of marginal lands provides a suitable means of limiting long term damage to the large area marginal grazing areas where natural erosion rates are also high. As a result of better recycling practice in australian agriculture it has significantly improved its very old hard setting nutrient leached soils in the southern agricultural areas.Bio diversity has been increased on the many more boundaries created between native and non natives that we have created . We can sequester carbon better than fire and the ants do - quite easily and quite productively.
It is for the aforementioned reasons that Australian farmers are regarded as some of the most efficient farmers and resource managers in the world .
Genuine scientific concerns about low sustainability relate to small areas of cash crops and steep area erosion, to generally established but isolated groundwater pollution and damage to localised soils during droughts , The naturally high surface erosion in many poor soils on hills is lowered in Agricultural areas by having a decent and deep sward cover of grass that recycles rather than exports nutrients and reduces runoff that would otherwise erode more naturally in high intensity rain periods.

While past animal cruelty concerns have been largely limited to the intensive poultry industry and individual managers , increasing scrutiny by vets of all industry practices and killing methods are accepted . Young people have led the way in forging more rigorous reviews The press need to understand that hard decisions have to made the interest of the animals and their death without cruelty ( animal liberation candidates in many electorates signify this)

Organic farming - a choice for consumers that is not regulated but differentiates the product in the mind of consumers leading to in most cases , higher prices. While there is little agreement about was is or isn't "organic" the main assumption agreed to by outsiders ( who might say all food production is organic) is a minimal amount of pesticides used. Production chemists say that "While regulation limits the life and amounts of pesticides in and on food sold in supermarkets. some people prefer food where a low level of pesticide is used, It would not possible to grow enough food to feed Australia if the current low levels of short lived pesticides were not used.
Continuous research can expected to refine the residual dangers of most of the short lived chemicals.currently used on farms.Hobby farming - a subsidized industry , While individuals may contribute significantly to food production and use modern technology , any production costs, by definition , are assumed to be subsidized.. As with organic farming , the food supplied by this origin is not as regulated as that flowing through most retail products.